Read Online Room for Just a Little Bit More by Beth Ehemann - Free Book Online Page A

doors.
    “Erica, what room is Alexa Harmon in?” she asked a woman in scrubs sitting behind the nurses’ station.
    “Kacie!” Derek called out from the end of the hall.
    Kacie didn’t wait for Erica to answer her, she just jogged straight to Derek. “How is she? What are they giving her to slow the contractions? Terbutaline?”
    He put his hands up, halting her, both from running past him and talking. “They couldn’t stop it. He’s here. He came fast; she almost had him in the elevator.”
    Kacie’s hands flew to her mouth as her voice cracked. “Him?”
    “Yep. Joseph Derek Harmon. He weighed five pounds, three ounces. She’s holding him now, but he won’t eat yet.”
    “Sometimes their latch is undeveloped this early. He’ll get the hang of it.” Kacie sniffed as a tear rolled down her cheek.
    I held my hand out to Derek. “Congrats, Dad.”
    He smiled as big as anyone I’d ever seen when he shook it. “Thanks. He’s pretty damn awesome, even for being an hour old. I think he’s a genius.”
    “Ha! First-time dads.” Kacie rolled her eyes, playfully. “Tell her I’m coming in.” She pushed Derek back toward his room.
    “Okay.” He laughed. “But the doc said no visitors until we’re in our real room.”
    “What doctor?”
    “Dr. Newman.”
    Kacie waved Derek off. “Tell her it’s me and she just delivered my best friend’s baby. She’ll let me in.”
    Derek stuck his head in the room and had a brief conversation with the doctor before pulling the door open. “She said fine, but just for a minute.”
    Kacie looked back at me and grinned, elated to go meet Joseph.
    I followed her into the room. The lights were dim and soft music played quietly as a nurse scurried about cleaning things up.
    “Congratulations.” I walked over and kissed Alexa on the forehead.
    “Thanks, Brody.” She smiled up at me, rocking that new mom glow I’d heard about. I walked over and tucked myself against the wall, out of the way.
    Kacie walked up and squeezed Alexa’s shoulders. “Only you would look this good immediately after having a baby. Bitch.”
    Alexa laughed, then held her stomach and groaned. “I’m glad I look good because I feel like shit. Why didn’t you tell me my vagina was going to rip in half?”
    Dr. Newman shook her head and looked at Kacie over her glasses. “She didn’t even have an episiotomy.”
    Kacie glared at Alexa and rolled her eyes. “Drama queen.” She walked over to the sink, rolled up her sleeves, and washed her hands and forearms, itching to get her hands on that baby.
    “Gimmie, gimmie.” She giggled as she scooped him out of Alexa’s arms. “He looks so good, Lex. Not very jaundice yet either.”
    Kacie gently swayed back and forth with the tiny white and blue blanket in her arms. She dipped her head and closed her eyes as she rubbed noses with Joseph. I stood in awe, staring at her as she fell in love with that baby right before my eyes. Surprisingly overcome with emotion, I could suddenly imagine our whole future, except it would be our baby she would be cradling and rubbing noses with. She was already the most amazing mom on the planet, and I couldn’t wait to make her a mother again.

I was nervous.
    Not I-hope-I-make-it-on-time nervous or even please-don’t-let-this-cop-pull-me-over nervous. I was interview-at-a-job-I-really-want, first-day-at-a-new-school, about-to-take-my-state-boards nervous, all rolled into one.
    It was the dead of winter in Minnesota, temperatures were barely in the double digits, and I was freezing my ass off sitting on a wrought iron bench, but I just wasn’t quite ready to go into the coffee shop and see my dad. You would think that after all that time, no matter what the circumstances of his leaving were, I’d be excited to see him, but I wasn’t. I was terrified.
    What if I didn’t like him?
    What if he didn’t like me?
    What if I lost the courage to ask him everything I’d wanted to ask him over the last fifteen